A Peter Pan Story
by OceanOfHell
Summary: Wendy Darling grows old and leaves Peter Pan behind her in the past. With nothing but the adventurous tales told by her mother, Elaine follows an intriguing, handsome young man who appears to her the night that her parents left her with her aunt.
1. Prologue

**Title  
**A Peter Pan Story (yes I know, how awfully creative of me)

**Characters**   
Peter Pan, Elaine, Captain Hook

**Unimportant Characters that You Probably Don't Care About, but I Felt Like Listing Anyway**   
Smee

**Rating**   
PG-13, but probably going to change later on into the story

**Pairings**   
Peter/Elaine

**Disclaimer**   
I do not own Peter Pan or any other character/setting in this story. THIS DISCLAIMER GOES FOR ALL FUTURE CHAPTERS BECAUSE I REFUSE TO KEEP HAVING TO TELL MYSELF THAT THEY AREN'T MINE!!!! I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

**S****ummary**   
Wendy Darling grows old and leaves Peter Pan behind her in the past. With nothing but the adventurous tales told by her mother, Elaine follows an intriguing, handsome young man who appears to her the night that her parents left her with her aunt.

**Thanks for Reviewing!   
**AngelicPirate, Simirit Lyons, NateReinekeLover, anOinteD4eVa826, MOO

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**Prologue**

The wishes of her heart and her tears reached out through the midnight sky, passed all the stars, to the tops of the great trees of Neverland, and into the ears of the sleeping boy. A quiet sniffle brought him out of his peaceful reverie as he looked about, wondering who woke him. Bright emerald eyes flickered back and forth across the room as he remembered the same thing that he always did when he woke.

"They're all long gone with their mother. No one's here to wake me… it was just a dream."

There! He heard it again, but this time it seemed louder, closer. A sparkle twinkled in his eyes as he drew his sheathed dagger and flew about the room. Something tickled his cheek and he scratched at it, flinging the dagger around him with his other hand, looking for the one who cried.

"It can't be anything. There haven't been any boys here since Wendy left; they're all grown up by now."

He felt it again. It was a teardrop rolling down his tanned cheek, but no matter how hard he wiped, it never went away. The tickling sensation slowly dragged its way down his cheek, irritating him to no end. The realization suddenly dawned on him and a stunning smile grew across his handsome, boyish features. Someone was lost, and they were calling for him.

With a burst of speed, he flew off, startling Tinkerbell, who was just making her way inside the hideout, sending her spinning away. In an angry blast of dust, she zoomed off to join him, wherever he was going.


	2. A Lost Girl

**Chapter 1 - A Lost Girl**

Wet streams marred her porcelain face as a fresh bout of tears dropped from her sad eyes. She wiped her nose on the soft fabric of her nightdress as she stumbled down the wet road.

"They forgot me!" she sniffled loudly. "My parents just left without me. They left me in that horrid house with my aunt." A noise behind her startled her, causing her to spin around in fear, searching. "They didn't even say goodbye!"

"Who?" a cheerful voice called from the boy that appeared suddenly.

She screamed and fell backwards, splashing his legs with the cold water that lay in puddles on the road.

He looked baffled by her reaction. "What's the matter with you?" he asked. "It was just a simple question."

Sliding backwards through even more puddles, she attempted to get away from the strange boy with curly, blonde hair and clothes made up entirely of leaves. "What do you want with me? Why are you following me?"

He smiled at the wet girl still moving away from him. "I wasn't following you. You called to me… and I'm here to take you away."

Her eyes widened as she froze in place. "I knew it! I'm going to die here tonight… at the hands of a vicious scoundrel." She looked up at him with an unreadable look on her face. "A scoundrel, yes," she grinned suddenly, "but just a boy."

His face instantly transformed from happy and carefree to sad. The words hit him hard as he remembered Wendy.

He had been distracted long enough for the soaked girl to stand before him and hit him hard, knocking him back. Sparkling with the moonlight, his eyes glinted merrily at the game he was going to play with her. Taking off, he flew after her slowly, letting her think that she was getting away.

Feet slapping heavily against the stone streets, she looked wildly about her for a place to hide. A dark alley from between two buildings welcomed her into its shadowy embrace. With a wary look behind her, she saw no one coming. Catching her breath, she leaned her back against the outer wall of the buildings she had hid in between.

Once again, the green-eyed boy appeared in front of her. "This was a fun game. I've always enjoyed a good game of hide and seek and I haven't played it in so long. Shall we play it again or are you ready to leave, yet?"

"Play it?" she asked, angrily. "You thought this was all a game? You nearly scared me half to death chasing me, and you call it a game?"

His brilliant smile continued to anger her as he stood proudly in front of her. Silencing her with a finger, he parted his own lips with a laugh. "Just answer me this one question: are you lost?"

The question unnerved her. "I beg your pardon. What do you mean am I lost?"

He looked away from her and laughed brightly again. "Do you not understand me? I thought the question was simple. Are—you—lost?"

"No," she stated flatly brushing passed him and back into the dimly-lit street. Turning her head in both directions, she stomped off to the left.

The young man watched her with interest, there was no way he was wrong. The only way he could hear her calling to him from Neverland was if she was truly lost. All he had to do was wait for her to realize what he already knew.

She stomped bravely onward, knowing he was following her, feeling the unsettling gaze of his upon her back. Coming to a junction in the road, she gulped nervously, realizing that she was completely and utterly lost.

"Boy," she said, turning around; her dignity made it difficult for her to admit her past mistakes. Taking a deep breath, she acknowledged the leaf-covered boy with a slight movement of her head. "I…" the words caught in her throat. "I'm lost. I don't know where I am… and… I don't want to go back."

He had known that she would come around sooner or later, so he stretched out a hand to her. "You don't have to go back. Come with me and you can have adventures and fun… forever. You'll never have to worry about anything ever again. And," he added with a mischievous wink, "you'll never be forgotten again."

A solitary tear trailed down her cheek as she sucked in a shuddering breath. "What am I doing?" she wondered aloud. "Not wanting to go home… why, that's ridiculous! My parents… my parents, they would…"

"Forget you again," he interrupted her sharply. "They'll leave you with your aunt and they won't ever come back." He took a step closer to her, still beckoning with his hand. "Do you know any stories?" he abruptly asked.

She looked at his fingers: the nails were short and had specks of dirt underneath them. "I know some, but just ones that my mother has told me."

"You know stories!" he exclaimed, his face lighting up with excitement. "That's wonderful! I haven't heard any since Wen…" the golden-skinned boy trailed off. "Since Wendy shut her window." His hand shook as he brought it to his side in silent defeat.

Shaking her head in sadness, the young girl moved in front of him and touched him gently on the arm. "You poor thing!" Her face scrunched up in confusion. "But what would closing a window have anything to do with telling stories?"

He smiled weakly. "She used to tell wonderful stories. Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty. There was even this one about a boy who fought against a one-handed pirate…"

"Captain Hook! That was one of my favorites! My mother always told me those stories… about Peter Pan." Her jaw dropped, "No! You're just a story! A figment of my mother's imagination. You can't be real… you're not Peter Pan!"

The young man in front of her struck a pose and looked her in the eyes, staring in the mesmerizing depths of her blue orbs. He was forced to lower his head as he hovered a foot off the ground in order to continue to gaze into her eyes.

"I must be sick!" the girl said, touching her hand to her forehead and turning away. "I did not just see a boy fly. It's not possible!"

"'Course it is!" he called out to her, somersaulting over her head to land in front of her. "All you need is a little fairy dust and some happy thoughts."

"Fairies?" she stated, putting her hands on her hips as Peter looked on in horror. "What a load of rubbish. You can't expect me to believe…" she found it difficult to speak with his hand covering her mouth. But before he could say anything she had yanked his hand away from it and began to speak again. "Do you really think I'm that stupid? I know what _not_ to say, thank you very much. I happen to have paid attention to my mother's stories."

His focus landed on the moon that reflected off of a puddle by his feet. "Come with me. Stay with me in Neverland… Wendy's taken all of the Lost Boys and it gets rather lonely without anybody to play with or tell stories to."

"Why do you keep saying Wendy? Surely you're not talking about my mother. It's not possible… all those stories are fake, they can't be real, right?"

"Of course they're real," he snorted. "And besides, what other Wendy's do you know that tells stories of me? I never saw who she told the stories to… and I stopped coming back after waiting for her to reopen the window that winter." He stopped and let out a slight, sad chuckle. "The colored glass on that boring, old window was so cloudy that I couldn't see in… I couldn't hear anything, either. I'd sit outside it for hours at a time, hoping that she'd open it once again."

The girl's face paled: he had just described the window in her bedroom. She had been the one to force her mother to shut it even though she had not wanted to.

He shook his tousled hair. "But it doesn't matter any more because you're lost… and you don't want to go back… or be forgotten. So you'll come with me. You're Wendy's daughter; you'll have lots of fun!"

"Just the two of us?"

Perfect white teeth showed as he tossed his head back in laughter. "No, silly. There are Indians and pirates and I'm sure there are bound to be more Lost Boys soon." He extended his hand once more.

"I'm Elaine," she said, tentatively placing her cold hand in his warm one. "And I suppose that I am coming with you to Neverland."

"Peter Pan," he introduced himself formally. Dipping his open hand into a pouch on his side, he sprinkled a gold glitter over her head. Leaning in close, his breath tickled her ear as he whispered, "Now think happy thoughts."

For the first time that evening, a genuine smile graced her lips. "I'm getting out of here." She closed her eyes and gripped his hand tightly, squeezing so hard that he actually winced.

"Elaine," he spoke, addressing the extremely happy girl. "Open your eyes and take a good look around you."

Squinting with her other eye, she slowly forced her right eye open, glancing around her. Not noticing anything odd, she opened her other eye and stood defiantly against Peter. "I don't see anything!" she said, glaring at him.

The look in his eyes guaranteed mischief. "Look down."

She gasped and grabbed onto his shoulders, clutching at Peter as they both hovered in the cool night air.

Pointing into the star-filled sky, he attempted to loosen the tight grip she had on his shoulders. "Second star to the right and straight on 'til morning." He turned to her with a silly grin on his face. "Join me in Neverland for the greatest adventure you'll ever have."


	3. Falling

**Chapter 2 - Falling**

Peter had pulled Elaine and guided her all the way to Neverland, where the two sat, floating on a cloud in complete silence. Elaine watched the golden-skinned boy as his face flickered with multiple emotions. He went from delighted to sad to confused.

"Elaine?" he asked at the same time that she said his name.

She blushed and smiled at him. "You go first."

"Well," he gulped, "what happened? Why did you become lost? I know that Wendy wouldn't leave you. Not _my_ Wendy," he stated matter-of-factly.

Her grin widened. "Well she's not _your_ Wendy, Peter. Your Wendy is very very old: she's my great-grandmother. Whenever she would visit, she would always tell me stories. And when she wasn't there, I would make my mother tell the stories. She didn't really enjoy them, but I would make her. Well anyway, to make a long story quite short, my mother (named of course after my great-grandmother) decided last week to go to America, leaving me with my aunt." Elaine paused. "That's when I decided to get lost. I hate my aunt, she's horrible and she makes me do things that I really don't want to."

"What do you mean my Wendy's old? She told me that she didn't want to grow up!" Peter's anger grew and grew. "Are the Lost Boys old, too? Have they families and _wives_?"

Elaine was suddenly confused. "Of course they do. They grew up, too. If you would just visit them you'd know that their windows have always been open for you. They haven't forgotten."

"They betrayed me," he screamed at her, eyes flashing dangerously. "Why would I visit them if they left me to grow up?"

She hugged the angry Peter in front of her. "Look on the bright side, Peter. If they hadn't left, you wouldn't have met me."

Peter pulled out of her grasp and turned his back to her, shoulders hunched. "But I've been alone while she grew up. She took away everything that I've ever had."

A frown settled itself on Elaine's face. "Then I guess I shoudl have never gotten lost. At least at my aunt's I would look forward to going home, rather than arguing with a child like you." Slowly disappearing through the cloud, Elaine realized that she had lost her happy thoughts and was having trouble keeping afloat.

The golden-skinned boy continued to stare in the opposite direction, not noticing that Elaine was sinking.

She let a wave of anguish flow through her body, giving in to the feelings that she harbored deep within her. As the speed of her descent increased, so did her fear as the forest below her grew at an alarming rate.

Darkness enveloped her as she landed deep within the throes of a cushiony pile of undergrowth, striking her forehead against a sharp, hidden rock.

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After a few minutes of silence, Peter turned around to discover that Elaine was no longer floating on the cloud with him. "Well I guess she decided to go hom to her aunt. and people that are going to forget her," he snorted, angry at losing yet another comrade. 

His green eyes flickered with sadness as he looked up at the sky. "She took everything from me," he mumbled to himself, trying to rid himself of this horrible feeling.

Tinkerbell flashed in front of his eyes, violently swinging her arms around in order to catch his attention.

"What do you want, Tink?" Peter sighed.

She curled her one hand to show him what she was talking about. Swinging the curled one around viciously, she pointed down with the other one.

"Hook," said Peter with a mischievous grin, suddenly forgetting all his woes (and Elaine). "Come on, Tink!"

With a quick, darting glance about him, Peter flew away from the could, heading towards his secret hideout, thinking of a way to taunt and terrorize Captain Hook.

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It just so happened that in Neverland forest, Captain Hook searched fruitlessly for Peter Pan's new hideout. The crocodile had made a big mistake by swallowing him whole, because Hook still had his sword with him. In a frightened attempt to save his own life, Hook had loosened the sword from its scabbard and jammed it into the crocodile's throat. Needless to say, the lifeless crocodile floated to the shore where the Captin, shaken and battered, but alive, proceeded to gut the offending creature in an attempt to free himself. Once the feeling of the wet sand beneath his feet registered in his mind, Hook swore on everything that he would find and kill Peter Pan. 

Today, he took his crew into the forest to search for clues of his nemesis. Just as they were about to head back to the ship for the evening, a soft thud in the forst caused him to put up his guard and search for whatever made the noise, hoping that Peter Pan had somehow collapsed and was very vulnerable.

Stalking cautiously, he watched a Neverland moss slowly fill out the body-sized hole. Using his sword to clear out the moss, Hook jumped back in surprise at the girl's body. Her head was badly cut and the blood was slowly seeping out, onto the moss.

Hook was very curious about this girl. _There hasn't been any other children here since Wendy_, he thought with a smirk. _Peter must have brought this one here_!

"Smee!" he yelled while tearing off a part of his shirt. "Build a stretcher to carry this girl. Now!" he ordered, using the cloth from his shirt as a bandage in an attempte to staunch the bloodflow.

Pressing it gently against her temple, Hook waited impatiently for the stretcher. "What the hell is taking so long?" he bellowed.

"S-sorry, Cap'n," Smee stuttered, "we were having problems finding some big enough leaves..."

"Enough!" he raged. "Just finish the damn stretcher now!"

Smee scurried off, returning shortly with a poorly-made, disformed... stick in his arms. the Captain raised an eyebrow and muttered dark curses under his breath. Gently supporting her head, Hook carefully moved her to the _thing_ that Smee placed on the ground in front of him.

Ordering two of the pirates to carry the stretcher, Hook led them back to the ship, hoping that this girl could help him.


End file.
